Technical Field
This disclosure relates to a drive device and an image forming apparatus incorporating the drive device.
Related Art
Various types of image forming apparatuses include copiers, printers, facsimile machines, or multifunction peripherals (MFPs) having two or more of copying, printing, scanning, facsimile transmission, plotter, and other capabilities. Such image forming apparatuses include various drive devices for image forming operations.
The drive device causes a sheet ejecting roller to rotate in a regular direction and a reverse direction. The drive device includes an input shaft and an output shaft and further includes a forward drive transmission route and a reverse drive transmission route. The forward drive transmission route and the reverse drive transmission route include respective clutches. When the clutch of the forward drive transmission route is turned on and the clutch of the reverse drive transmission route is turned off, the output shaft rotates in a forward direction by the driving force transmitted through the forward drive transmission route, and therefore the sheet ejecting roller rotates in the forward direction. By contrast, when the clutch of the forward drive transmission route is turned off and the clutch of the reverse drive transmission route is turned on, the output shaft rotates in a reverse direction by the driving force through the reverse drive transmission route, and therefore the sheet ejecting roller rotates in the reverse direction.